


a line of fire

by meteor-sword (vaenire)



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Gen, Non-Graphic Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-30
Updated: 2020-06-30
Packaged: 2021-03-04 21:40:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 569
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25003285
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vaenire/pseuds/meteor-sword
Summary: Prince Lu Ten, second in line for the throne, lay where he fell
Comments: 5
Kudos: 71





	a line of fire

Prince Lu Ten, second in line for the throne, was born in the middle of the night. Iroh couldn’t sleep, anxiously obeying the midwife’s demand to wait outside of the delivery room. Things were not right, he had been told, before he heard the cry of the babe and before he heard news of his wife. 

Prince Lu Ten’s face was round and pink, and he cried when Iroh held him. 

-

Prince Lu Ten, second in line for the throne, had his mother’s smile and her love of music. Iroh saw nothing wrong with agreeing to flute lessons to follow the boy’s firebending training. 

-

Prince Lu Ten, second in line for the throne, turned eighteen while his father laid siege to Ba Sing Se. He joined his father inside the wall, and music night was never so lively, a great respite from the tedium and monotony of the siege. 

-

Prince Lu Ten, second in line for the throne, lay in the mud, his magnificent robes stained and torn. The flash from his royal hair piece caught Iroh’s eye, and he jerked a motion for the palanquin to stop. 

They had learned too late of the ambush plot. Iroh had held hope as the reinforcements rushed to catch up with the Prince's battalion, but it was crushed as they came to the foot of the second wall. Houses had crumbled under the might of skilled earthbenders, shells of tanks and men in black and red strewn across the landscape the latecomers trudged across now. The solemn and hallowed silence was cut by Iroh's boots hitting the mud.

Prince Lu Ten, second in line for the throne, lay where he fell, his cheek resting in the mud and his chest armor crushed between rock slabs before he crumpled to the ground. It was the iron in the mud that stained his chin red, Iroh reasoned. Iroh slicked a loose hair back against his son’s damp, slick hair, clasping a hand over his son’s eyes to close them, cradling him close. A medic knelt beside Prince Iroh, attempting to gently remove Iroh but Iroh would not have it. 

Prince Lu Ten’s face was serene, eyes glassy when Iroh held him, kneeling in the mud. 

-

Prince Zuko, first in line for the throne, spoke boldly in defense of soldiers he did not know while Iroh sat stock still in shock. He spoke without hesitation, as any royal should. 

Prince Zuko screamed when Iroh’s brother touched fire to his face, and Iroh looked away. The Fire Lord vacated the chamber without a word to onlookers, head high, and the royal medics hesitated before approaching the broken prince. Never had the smell of burned hair and flesh turned Iroh’s stomach so.

-

Prince Zuko, banished, sat on the bunk beneath the Fire Nation tapestry in the heart of the ship. Iroh had not seen the boy since Iroh declared that he would oversee the boy’s impossible mission. Ponytail pulled viciously tight, Zuko glared with his unbandaged eye when Iroh sat beside him. 

Both knew he wasn’t angry at Iroh, and Iroh held the boy when he leaned against his Uncle, trying so hard to keep the sob inside until he choked on it. He had suffered so much that day, would continue to suffer-- but he was breathing and he was alive, and he was not being sent to the frontlines, and Iroh could  _ help _ him. 

**Author's Note:**

> went to sleep thinking about how lu ten died last night so i woke up and decided to be evil


End file.
